How to play

WordBranch is a real-time word race. Every player builds their own crossword grid — all of your tiles connected in one group, every row and column of touching letters forming a valid word. There are no turns: everyone plays at once, and the fastest valid board wins.

The flow of a game

• Everyone starts with the same number of face-down tiles (21 in a 2–4 player game, fewer with more players). The rest form the shared pile.
• Grow — the moment you've used every tile in your hand on a valid board, hit Grow: the server checks your words, and if they hold up, every player draws one more tile. You're rewarded for speed by forcing everyone else to keep up.
• Dump — stuck with an impossible letter? Trade 1 tile back to the pile for 3 new ones. Costly, but it keeps you moving.
• Bloom! — when the pile is nearly empty, the first player to use every tile on a valid board claims Bloom and wins. But claim it with an invalid word and it's a rotten branch: your tiles go back to the pile and you're out.

Controls

• Drag tiles between your hand and board — drop one on another to swap them.
• Keyboard: click a square and type to place letters (Backspace takes them back, Tab flips between → and ↓, arrows move the cursor, Shift+arrows drag the tile under it).
• Blocks: drag on empty board space to select a group of tiles, then drag, arrow-key, or Backspace the whole block at once. Rebuilding is a core skill!
• Touch: tap a square, then tap hand tiles to place. One finger drags tiles; two fingers pan the board.

Words

Boards are checked against the ENABLE word list (about 173,000 English words — the same public-domain list many word games use). Words must be at least two letters. Your board stays hidden from opponents until the game ends, unless the host chooses open boards.

Points mode

Hosts can switch a lobby to points mode: letters carry Scrabble-style values (Q and Z are worth 10, common letters 1), each Grow earns the grower +4, and claiming Bloom earns +20. When the game ends, every board is scored — letters only count in valid words — leftover hand tiles can cost you (configurable), and the highest total wins, even if someone else claimed the Bloom. Race fast or build rich: your call.

House rules

Hosts can customize each lobby: open or hidden boards, starting hand size, dump trade count, double tiles, forgiving rotten branches, even a fully custom letter distribution. You can also add 🤖 bot players in three speeds — from a gentle Fern to a genuinely scary hard bot.

Watching and replaying

Every game can be spectated live and replayed move-by-move afterwards — use the lists on the home page, or share a spectate/replay link directly.